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A Course mail reflector is an e-mail address that allows an instructor to
communicate with all of the students of a course/section through that
single address. The instructor is able to create the list from within the
UMEG system. There are
instructions on how
to create a Course mail reflector on the OIT Help Desk web site.
To send e-mail to the reflector list, the instructor need only know the
name of the reflector, which is usually in the form
<course>-<section number>-<term>. Term abbreviations
are as follows: sprXX, sumXX, fallXX, and wntrXX, where XX represents the
year. For example, if the fictitious course for Spring semester 2008:
MATH 999 Section 0101
had a Course mail reflector list, it would be named:
math999-0101-spr08
and the the instructor would address e-mail to:
math999-0101-spr08@coursemail.umd.edu
The mail would then be distributed to all of the members of the class.
If an instructor wishes to make a list for all sections of a course,
the section portion of the list name will be "01all",
"02all", etc. For example, to send to all of the students in
sections beginning with "01", the instructor would send mail to:
math999-01all-spr08@coursemail.umd.edu
Note: creating the "all" list for a course does not create the
individual section lists; this must be done separately.
All of the reflector lists are set up as follows:
- Only the instructor and TAs may send e-mail to the list by default. There
is a restrict file created when the list is generated, containing the
official e-mail address of the instructor and any TAs of record. If the
TAs were not in the campus records as TAs of record for the course at the
time the list was created, they will initially not be able to send mail
to the list.
-
The e-mail addresses used to generate the mailing list and restrict
file are the official e-mail address of the instructor, TAs and students
as advertised in the ARES system (for
instructors and TAs) and the Testudo
system (for students). If you send mail from any address other than
what is in ARES and/or Testudo at list creation time, it will be rejected
and bounced to the list owner with the word "CONSULT" in the
subject line. Make sure your mail client is sending mail using the same
address as what's in ARES, or else the class will not receive the mail
in a timely manner. Note: The userid portion of the e-mail
address is case sensitive for a Course mail list, so the address:
jsmith@umd.edu
is considered to be different from
JSMITH@umd.edu
- Each list has a password associated with it, so the instructor
can change the characteristics of the list, including adding and
removing e-mail addresses of a list. For reflector lists, the
default password is the new 9-digit University ID number (NOT the
old UMID/SSN!) of the person who established the list in UMEG. See the
OIT Help Desk web pages on Course mail for instructions on how to
replace this password with one of your own choosing.
Your U_ID should be printed on your UM photo ID card; if you don't know
what it is, you can get it by
looking
yourself up in the UM Directory.
- All of the lists keep a copy (or archive) of the all mail sent to
the list. This archive is available to the instructor at the end
of the semester by sending mail with the course and section to
majordomo-owner@coursemail.umd.edu.
Each of the lists should be self maintaining; student's e-mail addresses
should be automagically added and removed as they add and drop the course.
At times, however, the instructor might wish to make a change to the list
subscriptions or configuration items, like who can post to the list. If you
would like to learn more about making changes to the list, please see the
Course mail help page at:
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/
There are also several helpful Course mail web pages, including a Course mail
troubleshooting guide, on the OIT Help Desk web site at:
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/lists/coursemail/
If you have any specific questions or problems regarding Course mail lists,
please contact the OIT Help Desk.
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